PREGNANT WOMEN IN IDP CAMP ABDUCTED IN EBONYI

Reporter: AMECHI ODO

Internally Displaced Mothers in war torn Ezza Effium and Effium communities in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State are passing through untold hardship to provide food for their family members.

Sometimes they get abducted in the farms with a case in hand being an eight months old pregnant mother, Mrs. Ngbeke Oti, who was seized by suspected war lords when she accompanied her friends from an IDP camp to harvest cassava in Ebeta village near the war zone.

The mother of four, Mrs. Oti, who hails from Arochukwu Local Government Area of Abia State, was living in Effium with her family before they were displaced by war that erupted in the area.

She was said to be staying in a refugee camp in the neighbouring Nworie village from where she visited a nearby farm to harvest cassava in the company of two women and two children.

Her brother, Mr. Lawrence Okoroafor, told Radio Nigeria that while in the farm, the women were accosted by three men who after interrogating them dragged the pregnant woman away.

Mr. Okoroafor further explained that the two women and their two children returned to the camp and kept mute until they were pressured by others to explain the whereabouts of the pregnant mother.

The Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO in Ebonyi State, Mrs. Loveth Oda, said those who accompanied the pregnant mother were in custody while one of their children admitted to know the identity of one the abductors.

The PPRO added that a suspect was also arrested in connection with the crime while the Command Correspondent had launched investigation into the matter.